Deaf Child for the Endowment Fund Telekom at the Pontis Foundation

Project summary

About 200 children with hearing impairment are born in Slovakia every year. Up to 90 % are born to hearing parents. Early professional help and diagnosis of the disorder at an early age can significantly help manage disability, social inclusion and education. The state does not help and its role is largely replaced by the NGO Deaf Child. With a short-term intensive campaign and creative elaboration, it was possible to start the media’s interest in a marginal topic and community, to draw attention to a broad-spectrum social problem – the cost-effectiveness of prevention. The campaign helped the NGO raise awareness and attract new donors.

Goal

• Addressing future parents, grandparents, relatives that a child with a hearing impairment can also be born in their family. In case of doubts and questions, there is an NGO. The aim is to provide information about the importance of early intervention and early care, to support lobbying activities – preparation of impact and cost analysis.
• Fundraising and recruiting new donors.
• Sensitizing the public so that children with hearing impairments are not feared but accepted. The issue needs to be opened up and communicated publicly so that the relevant institutions can take action. Strong media coverage and the interest of the general public can help significantly.

Strategy and plan

To draw attention to and promote the NGO Deaf Child, which unites parents of children with hearing impairment and many renowned experts who deal with the issue. In a non-traditional and entertaining way, draw attention to a problem that does not seem to concern the general public. Use an unconventional form – engage a funny dog. The use of a singing dog in a video, which in the first moment will attract the general public more than the professional issue itself and at the same time with its help we will achieve greater media interest and spontaneous media coverage.

Realization

The implementation had three phases:
Event: “I don’t believe my ears” International Day of the Deaf and the launch of the book “We have a deaf child at home” with the aim of public presentation and media interest.
Press conference: Let’s listen to the needs of early intervention, with an analysis of the costs and benefits of field early intervention for children with hearing impairment.
Creative campaign: Funny videos of Juraj Kemka and the singing dog Bobika: Never underestimate your suspicions! The campaign consisted of a combination of videos, interactive banners, PR articles.
Media
PR articles with education on the topic of deaf children and at the same time lifestyle articles linked to the creative campaign – published in a wide range of media. We also prepared two opportunities for the media to get acquainted with the topic: an event where the NGO and deaf children with early diagnosis along with doctors and other experts presented alarming statistics. We have provided the media with up-to-date information and data. We managed to get the topic several times into the news in TVs TA3, RTVS, etc.

Results

During the three-month communication with the media, 57 unpaid media appearances with a media value of more than € 80,000 were created. The most creditworthy media outlets were news from RTVS, TA3, Pravda, SME, etc. The seemingly marginal topic of the deaf community has become more widely known to the public. In its breadth, the campaign helped the NGO to strengthen awareness of the existence of the first contact for parents. It helped raise € 7,000 from donors. We placed 6 videos on FB with a cumulative reach of 580K and 670K views. The banner campaign in 12 media reached 2 mil. views.